BlackBerry Ltd Q30 Windmere Concept [REPORT]

A new concept picture of BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB)’s Windmere Q30 has been released recently, and the phone looks like a joint effort by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and BlackBerry, says a report from n4bb. The concept image of the Q30 has somewhat of a different form factor, but the trademark BlackBerry three-row keyboard is intact. The phone has a metallic bezel similar to that of the iPhone 3GS, which might appeal to some users. However, the majority of the readers who saw the new phone concept design didn’t like it.

Expected specifications of the Q30

BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) introduced the phone, which is often called the Windmere, last year. There have been rumors about high-end specifications. According to various reports, the phone would be powered by a 2.36GHz Snapdragon 801 processor, Adreno 330 GPU. Other rumored features include 3GB of RAM and a 4.5-inch LCD display with 1440 x 1440 resolution.

Earlier a report from PhoneReview.co.uk said there have been a number of images of the phone available on the web. However, the final phone may or may not resemble what is shown in the photos. It is widely expected that the phone might have a QWERTY keyboard. The BlackBerry Q30 will also reportedly have a 13-megapixel rear camera, along with optical image stabilization. The smartphone is expected to be powered by a 3450 mAh battery.

Regarding the operating system, the phone will have the latest version of BlackBerry, 10.3, along with more refined app icons. OS 10 from BlackBerry incorporated some new looks which were not very easy for users to get used to. There were two more upgraded versions of OS10 afterwards, but the user interface did not change.

Michael Clewly, the company’s product manager, published a screen shot from his device of the BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) operating system 10.3 home screens on his BBM channel. In the newer version, the icons will not have an outline and will be redesigned with a fresher look.

Analyst ratings on BlackBerry

Recently BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) stock has been the focus of a number of analyst rating. Oppenheimer analysts upgraded shares of the company from an Under Perform to a Market Perform rating in a research note dated Tuesday, May 6, 2014. Zacks analysts, in a research note dated Friday, April 25, 2014, have maintained their Neutral rating on the stock with a price target of $7.75 per share. On average, the stock has been assigned a Hold rating.